It has been a dream of mine to attend an SM Town concert. For those who don’t know, SM Town concerts are a collective of all artists under SM Entertainment, performing in one night and for over 3 hours! Now considering you are seeing SNSD, TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, f(x), BoA, Kang Ta and now EXO all in one night, you can see why it’s an epic concert!

Being an ardent K-pop fan, I got to know of an SM Town happening in Thailand back in August itself. I just needed a confirmation and when it was formally announced, I couldn’t let go of this opportunity. The date worked perfectly for me as the 24th of November was the Yee Peng Lanna event in Chiang Mai. An event I’ll blog about later, but long story short, I now had two big reasons to visit Thailand a fourth time!

But unfortunately, my ordeal wasn’t as satisfying as the concert ended up being. First I had to get tickets. I was hoping Thai Ticket Major would be the usual website from where I could get tickets, but no. Instead, SM had partnered with mobile and cable operator True Corporation and the booking website to go to was webooking.com. They announced the date and time when tickets would go on sale and I waited for the day to come.

11am Thailand time, 9:30am in India, was when the tickets would go on sale online. I woke up at 9am on a Sunday and kept hitting refresh until I could see the ‘Buy Tickets’ button come up. At 9:29am it did. I knew I wanted one 5000 baht ticket in the A2 section. But when I clicked on the section and chose my ‘seat,’ (A2 & A3 were standing sections) I couldn’t buy it until the entire seat layout loaded. Yup, seat layout for a freakin’ standing section! And by now the servers were showing signs that it was getting hammered by traffic from K-pop fans just like me desperately trying to buy tickets. When I finally got the ‘Buy ticket’ button to pop-up, it then told me the seat had been taken! This same thing happened to me thrice! And when I tried a fourth time, all the ‘seats’ showed red. As in fully booked. Grrrh!

Frustrated and upset, I decided to try for a seat in the A6 section. And I got one there. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I at least got something. But when I came back home after 4 hours and went to webooking.com just to check if the entire concert was sold-out, I was surprised to see it hadn’t. And guess what… when I clicked on the A2 section, 5-6% of the seats now appeared in white – as in, available and open for purchase! I was like: “Awww man, now what?”.

I then decided to go ahead an book a seat in the 5000 baht section. I figured, I could easily find a buyer for the A6 ticket I had – right? I wasn’t happy that I spent 9500 baht (Rs. 17,195/US$309) when I am still technically without a full-time job. But what to do. A Sone’s got to do what Sone has to do to see his favourite idols.

Sadly, my ordeal didn’t end there.

Upon landing in Bangkok, I wanted to collect the physical tickets so that I could easily sell the 4500 baht ticket I didn’t want. But when I went to the big True branch in Sukhumvit, they told me to check with another branch. I took the MRT to the Central Rama 9 branch. There I waited but was finally told by the staff to go to the Central Rama 3 branch. I took the MRT and a taxi to the branch with the webooking.com counter where after being charged a 20 baht service fee, I was told “no have ticket, come tomorrow”.

I told them I couldn’t do that because I needed to leave for Phuket that night and that I would collect it at the venue. I was very frustrated sitting in the taxi back. As if the 9500 baht wasn’t enough over-spending, I spent in excess of 200 baht going around for nothing! Waste of time and made my experience in Bangkok even worse.

Anyway, on the day of the concert, I chose to stay near Victory Monument because I read I could get buses to SCG Stadium (the concert venue) easily. After much directional pointing by locals, I found a long queue of young fans holding K-pop merchandise, so I knew they were all going for SM town.

I joined the queue

Fortunately a girl in front of me spoke decent enough English and told me that this line was for a van taxis to Muang Thong Thani. She told me not to worry and just follow her. I sighed relief knowing I had a local who could help me 🙂

The venue was over 15kms from the Victory Monument area and took nearly 30 minutes to reach. Traffic was piling up so I was a bit glad I chose to leave early. Of course, that and the fact I had to collect my tickets and then sell the 4500 baht ticket before I could go in!

There were thousands of K-pop fans, stalls selling all sorts of K-pop merchandise and a big festive atmosphere all around. I held a piece of paper stating I had one extra ticket for sale. Once I got my tickets, I was approached by a few fans and touts. I just wanted to get my 4500 baht back but most were offering less. I didn’t want to sell to the touts because they were obviously going to sell it for profit. But seeing the thousands thronging inside the venue, I was getting restless. I finally gave up and sold it to a tout for 4000 baht. I was just desperate to get in and find a good spot.

I was getting a bit claustrophobic as I hadn’t eaten a proper lunch in the hurry to get here early. Plus the heat and being surrounded by sooo many people… it was getting to me.As if two security checks outside weren’t enough, there was one more inside the arena tooDamn, the A2 section was already nearly full!

Still, I didn’t regret spending 5k baht to be here.

The view was great!

Girls Generation fans were (not surprisingly) out in huge numbers. Pink was easy to spot and fan-groups were handing out pamphlets with instructions for fan-events.

This Indian Sone is FINALLY here at an SM Town!It was nearing 5pm and the stadium was nearly full!SCG stadium – home to Muang Thong Football ClubThe stage looked great and the display was super sharp!SM Entertainment had the ‘world’s greatest cameramen’ handing video coverage 🙂Fans of pretty much every group and SM idols had banners dedicated to themKid leader has a dedicated fansite in ThailandPink, pink… spot the pink 🙂Some came prepared for the long waitBut it was surprising to see just how popular rookies EXO were. And boy, where EXOtics in for a treat. All 12 of them were going to be on stage tonight!It was nearing 5:30pm

Just then, cheers grew loud as fans spotted a cheery Luna on the right side of the stage. Five girls all dressed in red then took to the stage to a loud cheer from the entire stadium.

It was f(x)!The girls kicked off SM Town III in Bangkok appropriately enough with “Hot Summer”The girls took a break to introduce themselves and speak to the audience. Amber got the most screams. It’s funny how a boyish-looking girl is so popular… oh wait, this is Thailand.The girls all looked lovely. Luna’s smile is super-infectious.

The girls performed their hit single “Pinocchio (Danger)” before running off the stage. It wouldn’t be the their only performance.

Next up came SM Ent. senior artist KangTaAfter a ballad, Kang Ta spoke to the audience before breaking into a dance number which sounded like a Super Junior song.Super Junior-M’s Zhou Mi performed next on the moving platform to my leftHe was joined by f(x)’s Victoria on another moving platform. They performed a Chinese song, which I’m guessing was from the OST of their Taiwanese drama.

After that duet ended, I look at the main stage and I see a doll-like girl hop on stage. My inner-fanboy just couldn’t control itself and I just let out a big shout…

“JESSSICAAAA!” is exactly what I screamed out 🙂Jessica performed Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” with her younger sister KrystalI couldn’t believe the Jung sisters were right in front of meAfter the song, the girls got off the stage right near us! I tried to get a decent picture but as you can see, everyone was jostling to get a closer look of Jung beauty.

Next up was Changmin of TVXQ and Super Junior’s Kyu Hyun performing Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are”.They came all the way in front of us to a guy who hid his face and sat in between themSo who was the guy the two were singing “… ‘cos you’re amazing, just the way you are…” to? SHINee’s Min Ho.I found it awkward, but hey… the girls loved the fan serviceSuper Junior’s Donghae and Eunhyuk livened things up next with their single “Oppa”

Then played a bunch of teasers (and anyone who followed EXO’s debut knew how many there were!) which brought about ear-splitting screams from the girls around me.

It was both Exo-K and Exo-M performing on stage. They began with a bilingual performance of “History” before going on to “MAMA”Don’t ask me who this guy is. I just clicked. It took me a while to learn every SuJu member’s name. It will be the same with Exo.The screams from the Taeyeon fanboy (pictured above) were just as loud when this name came on screen.

SNSD’s power vocalist screamed through… actually no, she was lip-syncing to “Devil’s Cry”. I mean, it was her voice in the recording and I know she can sing the hell out of anything, but the way she was covering her mouth and holding the mic, it was fairly apparent Taeyeon was playing pretend. I quite liked the rock song though.

The leader then walked down the steps to join her eight sisters and SNSD was finally on stage as one!

The girls began their set with “Run Devil Run”The girls then introduced themselves. Yes, I’m such a Girls Generation fanboy I clicked all 9 of them as they spoke.Well surprise, surprise… someone’s got purple hair!

Now, I could list a thousand reasons why I love the girls of SNSD so much, but one of the big reasons is because they make me laugh. And tonight they did. Here are the usual funny ones attempting to speak Thai:

The girls then proceeded with “Genie”

The girls would return.

Who were these boys swimming their way to their fans?SHINee, who kicked of their set with “Lucifer” – still one of my favourite K-pop songs!The entire stadium erupted for this next group. Who else?Super Junior moved from the main stage to the one closest to me on this awesome platformSuJu began their set with “Superman” and “Don’t Don”For some fans, this wasn’t their first time watching Super Junior liveSHINee returned to the stage for a fast-paced, hard-edged remix of “Ring Ding Dong” – which also happens to be one of my least liked K-pop songsJonghyun seemed to be in a completely different darker state for much of his stage personaSuper Junior also kept the rock-vibe going with a remix of “Bonamana”SM’s most popular senior artists made a grand entrance with “Purple Line” and “Rising Sun”After SHINee performed “Juliette,” the members all spoke to the audienceThe girls of f(x) returned to the stage to perform “Jet” – one of the better album tracks on ‘Electric Shock’They were followed by SuJu’s Ryeowook, SHINee’s Onew and EXO’s Chen and Baekhyun singing a cover of the Journey classic “Open Arms”I fangirled ahem, I mean fanboyed again when TaeTiSeo “Twinkle’d” up the screensTiffany is always eye-smiling through her performancesEXO and llamas were duly noted by fans 🙂After Amber, Key and Kris performed a cover of “Like a G6,” TVXQ’s Yunho was joined by a bunch of his labelmates for a dance offSM Entertainment’s first major pop idol BoA took to the stage with her set including hits “Hurricane Venus,” “No. 1” and “Only One” which featured a special performance with TaeminThis was the first time in BoA’s 12-year long career that she was performing in Bangkok, Thailand. Her fans had prepared a special message thanking her for the same. She thanked her fans for waiting so long.SuJu returned with their most popular hit “Sorry, Sorry” which had the entire stadium singing alongAfter the performance, the members introduced themselves. Leeteuk and Heechul are serving in the army while Siwon was absent due to his drama filming.

Just like the girls of SNSD, the boys of Super Junior are known for their ability to entertain a crowd. And that’s exactly what they did when they attempted to speak Thai! 😀

SuJu performed the Korean version of their Chinese hit “Perfection” and “A-Cha” before handing the stage back to SNSD who performed “Mr. Taxi” in Korean as well.

Screams (from girls mostly… but you can’t say) reached a new pitch when a shirtless and greased up Jonghyun (SHINee) appeared on stageHe was joined by fellow band mate Taemin who writhed about a little too close to him. Again, ‘gay’ to me – but the girls loved it!TVXQ returned to perform “Mirotic” and new single “Humanoids”Girls Generation returned to perform their iconic hit “Gee”. Sadly they were nowhere near me :-/The girls were at the other end of the stadium. Sucked for me, but in many ways SM at least aimed to give fans a closer look no matter where they were seated.Thai Sones had a fan event planned but sadly it failed to get the girls’ attention. We were supposed to hold out papers with a message on them but a) the rain ruined it b) the girls never came to the front of the main stage anywaySHINee closed out their set with their most recent smash “Sherlock”SNSD closed out theirs with “The Boys”That’s the microphone in Sunny’s mouth, not anything elseWith each group closing out with their most recent hits, I assumed the show was nearing its endSuper Junior ended their night with “Sexy, Free & Single”TVXQ performed the last song of the night. The one song I was honestly looking forward to seeing the most!Although they were lip-syncing to “Catch Me,” I didn’t care. I came for the dance! Easily the best choreography of the year!Every SM artist then appeared on stage for the closing song “Hope”

And I recorded the whole thing:

And with that, the four-hour-long SM Town III concert was over!The fans slowly made their way out. Okay, so some of them rushed but I was in no hurry.

Looking around, a lot of fans were taking their final “I was there!” self-shots. Despite the rain and all the hassles I went through to get here, all I kept thinking was: “Wow, what-a-show!”

50 performances, 32 idols, 4 hours of K-pop insanity, killer stage setup, water fountains, pyrotechnics… jeez, this is one heck of a show to produce! It’s no wonder the tickets are expensive. Although Thai fans told me SM Town 2011 was cheaper, there was no 12-member EXO last year. I spent all-in-all 5500 baht (I lost 500 baht upon selling my other ticket I didn’t need) plus flights and hotel accommodation. A lot of money for a guy who is still looking for a decent job. But you know what… it was worth it!

It was an experience I’ll never forget. Face it, SM Town or for that matter, any major K-pop artist isn’t coming to India anytime soon. K-pop has yet to reach the levels of acceptance as “Gangnam Style” has. Fuck, now to most Indians, “Gangnam Style” is Korean music. Not exactly what long-time fans of K-pop have been listening to for years! I consider myself quite fortunate to be among the few from India to have attended to an SM Town concert.

But for all the crap I went through for the tickets before the concert, my ordeal for the night wasn’t over. It only dawned on me after the concert: “Wait, now how I do I get back to my hotel?” I regretted not asking that important question to the girl who helped me get to the venue. And I forgot to ask for her number.

It was past 10pm and traffic was bad as thousands were trying to leave the area post-rain. I looked around for buses or vans going back to the city but couldn’t find any. I asked around so many times but it was getting quite frustrating as no one spoke good enough English to give me some proper advice on where to go. Just as I was thinking of asking random passersby for a ride back to the city or to any metro station, one girl waiting for her ride suggested I could try for buses near Impact Arena.

And so I walked. Past the Novotel hotel and the many exhibition halls, which were all hosting various events. All I kept thinking was how and why is there a lack of proper public transportation when there are so many events going on in one area?

Anyway, I found the spot for van taxis dropping people off at Mo Chit BTS (the last/first station on the main skytrain line). It was long snake-like queue, but I had no choice. I waited.

By the time I got a bus to Mo Chit BTS station, it was 11pm

And by the time I reached my room after picking up dinner from the only 24-hour McDonalds outlet near Victory Monument, it was 12am. I was tired as hell. But satisfied.

Will I do this again? Probably not in Bangkok. But I will not hesitate to attend another SM Town though. Sure it’s expensive, and although I hope they don’t increase ticket prices again next year, you really do get your money’s worth of entertainment. For me it was either go for SM Town in Singapore or Bangkok. I chose Bangkok because I love Thailand, and I had other events that gave me enough reason to justify this trip from India. That and the fact everything costs more in Singapore! Tickets, flights, hotels, etc.

That said, I probably wouldn’t want to attend another SM Town in Bangkok if it’s going to be held in SCG Stadium. Heck, Psy was having a free concert there on November 28th and I still didn’t go because of the worry about getting back. (I still saw him at another event though :))

Looking back, I had no regrets. For those lucky enough to get a SM Town in your city, just go for it! You won’t regret it, it’s really that good a show. Plus, I don’t think I can say I’m satisfied until the day I finally see the SNSD members up close and I get to interview them for my website (that is a dream of mine). I’m now back in India still dreaming of living or working in Bangkok or Singapore for a while so that I don’t have to keep flying to these places everytime I want to see my K-pop idols. But until that dream comes true, I guess I have no choice but to spend the money. SM Town III was one of the best concerts I have attended. It was far better than the K-pop Nation concert in Macau where I spent pretty much the same amount but for lousier seats!

Any disappointments? I would have liked it if SNSD performed in front of me – but they never came as nine on to the stage closest to where I was standing. I would have liked to have seen BoA perform “The Shadow”… but these are things I shouldn’t be complaining about as each fan will have their disappointments. Every act put on a great show. Only on very few songs did the artists lip-sync, otherwise they were busting their asses off performing to their best in the heat and the rain!

As much as I went as a Sone, the one group that honestly blew me away was TVXQ. Man… are they awesome or what! Just two of them (and their awesome back-up dancers who deserve just as much praise) were giving it their all – vocals and dancing! I can now see why Lee Soo Man was so butt-hurt when JYJ split away from DBSK. If just two of them were this good, imagine what all five of them on stage were like!

As for the above photos, please note that they were taken on the Google Nexus 4 phone – which I borrowed from my friend for this night just so I could take decent shots. I didn’t want to risk bringing my expensive DSLR and lenses as I knew they wouldn’t be allowed. (But as always, some managed to sneak them in). I didn’t click or record every performance, like when TaeTiSeo performed “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” with Exo. But then again, recording the entire concert was never my intention. In some ways I’m glad I didn’t watch too many clips of past SM Town concerts this year.

As for videos, I actually recorded over 50 clips, but they’re all of no use. Anything with music (which is most of the recordings) is nothing but “Brrrr, brrrrm, brrrm..”. A pain to listen to and not worth uploading :-/ I’ll see if I can salvage whatever I can.

So yeah, that’s it. Nearly 4000 words and 78 photos. That was my first SM Town concert! 😉

9 Comments

TWB

OMG so jelly…. I’d kill to see SNSD live lol you are so lucky… Btw when’ll you review the 2nd J-album? I was disappointed. I’m looking forward to it 🙂

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 3rd, 2012 at 2:00 AM

I wasn’t impressed by the album. Plus it came out while I was travelling around Thailand. So some how I didn’t bother.

Leewin

05/12/2012

Did you go by yourself?

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 5th, 2012 at 11:47 AM

I was in Thailand with a friend, but yes, I went by myself for the concert.

MooMooChan

06/12/2012

You were so lucky!!! I saw SMtown in my country last september but I didn’t get a chance to see TVXQ perform Catch Me and Humanoids. They only sang KYHD, Mirotic, Rising Sun and Maximum. Changmin and Kyuhyun brought random girl on stage while singing JTWYA. Feels like I wanna kill that girl!!!! OMG!!! I wonder Yunho and Changmin must be sooo awesome!!! And you know what… after SM town in Jakarta I decided to become a SONE! LOL I’m a girl but I’m in love with Tiffany!!! And Jessica…. GOSH! Ice princess!!! How could she has such a small legs like that! So envy!!! Kkk~

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 6th, 2012 at 1:36 PM

Yup, Jessica is stunning from head to toe 🙂

Bear

12/11/2013

Can I ask you how to buy ticket on webooking.com ? Because It didnt have full english ver and I have registered id but cant sign in on this website TT

I registered a second time and it’s still giving me problems. I’ll try to email the company and see if there’s any problem. I have to register in order to buy tickets for SNSD’s upcoming concert. I’m guessing you are doing the same 🙂

riz

26/11/2014

Why thais are so mad about korean pop when there are so many talented thai singers and good thai music